Tech web site CNet has reviewed Panasonic's new Blu-ray players, the $300 DMP-BD35 and $400 DMP-BD55.

In short, they thought both players represented the best standalone players available with great performance, but both fell short of the speed of the reigning champ, the Sony PlayStation 3.

The Panasonic DMP-BD35 significantly changes the game. It's a Profile 2.0-compliant player with onboard decoding for both Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio, and it carries a $300 list price. Furthermore, it offers excellent image quality on Blu-ray movies and it looks pretty good with standard DVDs as well. In many ways the PS3 is still a better Blu-ray player, especially when it comes to responsiveness and the fact that you can use it play games, stream media, and rent movies. But for home theater fans who just want to watch Blu-ray movies, the DMP-BD35 is the best value we've seen [...]

Given the $100 lower price, they gave the DMP-BD35 their Editor's Choice award, a first for a Blu-ray player.

Check out CNet's site for both reviews:

• DMP-BD35
• DMP-BD55

Amazon.com shows the DMP-BD35 as being available on Saturday, October 25th at $299.95 and the DMP-BD55 is $399.95 with an availability date of October 28th. Circuit City shows both players are in stock today at similar prices. Best Buy's web site doesn't list either player yet.